Do Not Email Act

December, 2007

Section 1: Short Title

This Act may be cited as the “Do-Not-Email Act.”

Section 2: Findings

The Congress makes the following findings:

1. Advertising and marketing over the Internet can reach a vast audience, crossing state and national boundaries in an easy manner, in comparison to other methods such as telemarketing and face-to-face marketing.

2. SPAM has become a monumental problem in Internet communications in recent years. Research proves that about 45% of daily email communications is considered SPAM (about 14.5 billion messages daily).

3. About 2.5% of SPAM that are generated daily consists of fraudulent messages.

4. SPAM is costing businesses and individuals greatly, decreasing productivity and increasing technical issues. Radicati Research Group Inc. (Palo Alto, California) estimates that spam costs businesses $20.5 billion annually in decreased productivity as well as in technical expenses. Nucleus Research estimates that the average loss per employee annually because of spam is approximately $1934.

5. Congress must provide adequate legislation that will minimize the burdens of individuals and consumers in combating SPAM.

Section 3: Do-Not-Email Rules

1. The Federal Trade Commission shall establish a free, electronic registry for the public to submit their own email addresses, stating that they wish to be excluded from any unsolicited, commercial emails.

2. The Federal Trade Commission shall establish a set of rules for all individuals, businesses and organizations prohibiting deceptive or abusive commercial emailing practices.

3. The Commission must include in such rules a requirement prohibiting individuals, businesses and organizations from conducting any practices involving the sending of the same commercial email or variations of the same commercial email to multiple email addresses within the Do-Not-Email Registry.

4. The Commission shall establish an electronic complaint form, which allows individuals to submit complaints against violators.

5. The Commission may institute fees to cover the costs of establishing the Do-Not-Email Registry, the Complaint Form, the enforcement of related rules and the maintenance of it.

Section 4: Exceptions

1. An individual may still receive correspondences from businesses or other individuals with which he/she may have existing business relationships with for up to 6 months after the last purchase of a product or service, unless the individual explicitly states that they